3 bananas 300 g ladyfingers 2 tsp instant coffee 2-3 tbsp cognac 2 small gelatin packets Cake filling - custard 4 egg yolks 200 g sugar 500ml whole milk 2-3 tbsp starch of choice vanilla extract
To start, we are going to prepare the custard. Mix the milk and the sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, add your starch of choice (we picked vanilla flavoured) and mix it with 3-4 tablespoons of the hot milk until it is homogenous. In another bowl whisk the 4 egg yolks and then mix them up with your starch mixture, pouring very slowly. This technique is called tempering, so the eggs do not cook in the hot mixture after. Next, add vanilla extract and then we can mix everything together, pouring it in the pot of milk and sugar slowly and whisking continuously until it thickens like a cream. When that's done, take it off the heat. For the next step, make 1 cup of instant coffe by adding the 2 teaspoons of it in a cup of hot water. Then, add cognac to it. In a circular non-stick cake pan with removeable bottom, start placing ladyfingers (you might need to cut them in half), dipped in coffee-cognac mixture, around the walls and on the bottom, once you're done. Top your first layer with cream and banana slices. Next, add another layer of delicously soaked ladyfingers and another layer of custard and bananas. If you have more cream and ladyfingers you can do a third layer, if you don't that's alright, just make sure that you finish with a layer of bananas on top. To finish your cake, prepare gelatin as adviced on the package. Once you're done and have a smooth liquid of gelatin, pour it over your bananas on top of the dessert. This prevents your fruit from browning or darkening in color, making your decoration look dull so make sure you do not skip! Keep your dessert in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving!